Corruption

Reason Morning Links: BP, Fannie, Freddie, and the Tel Aviv Tea Party

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• BP agrees to set up a $20 billion claim fund.

• A jobs bill fails in the Senate.

• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must delist from the New York Stock Exchange.

• The biggest criminal case to emerge from the financial crisis.

• More than 90 banks and thrifts missed their last TARP payments.

• Tea party protests pop up in Russia, Israel, and the Netherlands.

NEXT: As the Spill Expands, So Does Presidential Power

Books Editor Jesse Walker is the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

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  1. sage

    BP agrees to set up a $20 billion claim fund.

    I’m sure since the right people are in charge that it won’t be used to buy votes or favors.

  2. BP “agreed” to set up that fund weeks before Maobama said a word about it and already paid out millions of dollars before “agreeing” to the Chicago style extortion. The “independent third party” is Obama’s pay czar.

    Reason drank the Kool-Aid again?

    1. CoyoteBlue

      Suki, that fund wasn’t being “administered” by an Obama crony. Ergo – it didn’t exist.

    2. Rich

      The “independent third party” is Obama’s pay czar.

      “Independent”, as in a man of “independent” means.

      1. .

        From the link:

        A one-time chief of staff to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday, Feinberg is also active politically, making more than $300,000 in campaign contributions since 1990, mostly to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The recipients include Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

        Yep. That’s what I’d call a real “independent third party.”

  3. Johnny Longtorso

    The rise and rise of the Champagne Malthusians

    The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider

    1. John

      The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

      But Nue Mexican, Joe Boyle and MNG all told me that the “science was settled”. What a fucking fraud.

      1. James Ard

        You have to feel sorry for those guys. They invested everything in what their lefty leaders told them was true. Now they have to finish their lives with their credibility shot and their command and control dreams lost forever.

        1. Lawn Gnome

          You have to feel sorry for those guys. They invested everything in what their lefty leaders told them was true. Now they have to finish their lives with their credibility shot and their command and control dreams lost forever.

          We Lawn Gnomes are stalwart observers of weather patterns, as we are a hardy people; I don’t recall the IPCC asking us for our opinions.

          We feel no pity for such foolish acolytes of The Weather God in this religion of Climate Change and utter a hearty collective laugh at such willing rubes.

          We Lawn Gnomes are a skeptical people.

          1. Tim

            Back to Gnome, Alaska with you, you half pint Palin drone!

            1. Sarah Palin

              Awwww, Tim, don’t be so stuffy! You’d still fuck me! You betcha you would!

            2. &

              I’d rather be a Palin Drone than a palindrome.

          2. Yay, the lawn gnome is back! I’ve missed your hearty amusing posts.

      2. Chinny Chin Chin

        The Hulme/Mahony article is a fascinating read. One primary point is the lack of geographic/national diversity within the IPCC-approved authors. More than 80% come from OECD countries.

        I look forward to our lefty champions of diversity castigating the IPCC for it’s imperious colonialism and willingness to impose Western values upon developing nations.

    2. John

      Funny that is in a foreign newspaper. I am sure MSNC, WAPO and the NYT will get right on this story.

  4. Mad Max

    “Tea party protests pop up in Russia, Israel, and the Netherlands.”

    More disgruntled white racist fascists resisting the inevitable progress of the modern world, no doubt. ?

    1. John

      The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

      But Nue Mexican, Joe Boyle and MNG all told me that the “science was settled”. What a fucking fraud.

      1. Mad Max

        Just a minor quibble: You appear to be responding to one of the climate-change stories. I’m commenting on the tea parties.

        1. John

          Sorry. fucking threaded comments.

          1. Mad Max

            Your comment proves that the tea-party movement is simply motivated by an irrational hatred and fear of threaded comments. ?

            1. +LOL

            2. Pro Libertate

              Say, there is a correlation between the advent of nested, threaded, convoluted comments here and the rise of the Tea Party movement.

              1. The rise of the Tea Party movement correlates closely with the rise in sea level.

                1. Chris

                  +1

                2. .

                  The rise of the Tea Party movement correlates closely with the rise in a level alright, but it ain’t the sea. Shit’s gettin’ awful deep these days.

              2. CrackertyAssCracker

                But the threaded comments came first, so the there are temporal problems with the cause-effect hypothesis.

    2. Mad Max

      All of them presumably protesting the election of black presidents in their respective countries. ?

      Yeltsin is probably a Black Russian. Hi-yo!

      1. Mad Max

        Putin, I meant Putin, not Yeltsin.

        But the joke works better with Yeltsin, let’s admit.

        1. -

          This thread needs a rewind.

      2. All of them presumably protesting the election of black presidents in their respective countries.

        Obama is president of the world, so they have every right.

        1. CoyoteBlue

          I didn’t see them out protesting when Gengis Khan was president of the world!
          This just proves their racist hippo-cracy!

          1. T

            Hippos are racist? Does this mean I shouldn’t take the kids to see them at the zoo?

            1. Daddy took us to the zoo and we saw a hippo stick his thingie in another hippo!

          2. Gengis Khan

            What? There was a cracker in my ancestral rice paddy?

    3. jtuf

      You seem to be confused, Mad Max. The Tea Party opposes socialists.

    4. Kolohe

      To be fair, in Russia at least, there’s a good chance they actually *are* white racist fascists.

  5. Draco

    Don’t know about the rest of you, but that article on the international Tea Parties cheered me up this morning. What a fantastic thing to see the Gadsden flag flying in Israel with “Don’t Tread on Me!” printed in Hebrew.

    As the article implies, that’s the kind of American exceptionalism that libertarians can get behind!

    Here’s to the principles of the Declaration of Independence – long may they thrive, and inspire others around the world, even if half of Americans have forgotten.

    1. Barack Obama

      Let me be clear. The time for American exceptionalism is past. Don’t believe me? Well look who’s the president.

      1. .

        Jive turkey!

        1. What

          Thats JAMF

  6. ?

    A jobs bill fails in the Senate.

    Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said lawmakers wanted to begin paring the extended unemployment benefits created in response to the recession because “this is not something that can go on indefinitely.”

    Witch! Burn the witch!

  7. JW

    STEVE SMITH THINK BLONDES HAVE MORE FUN. NOT TRUE. BLONDES JUST MORE EASILY SEEN IN THICK UNDERBRUSH. YUMMY HIKERS ONLY POKE STEVE SMITH WITH STICKS. STEVE SAD. SAD. KISS KISS. NIPPLE.

    1. Someone call Inigo Montoya.

  8. Timon19

    Right smack up front on CNN:
    “Language guru: Obama speech too ‘professorial’ for his target audience”

    Holy crap.

    Link to knob-gobbling story.

    1. Timon19

      Ok, so it’s not as fawning as I thought, but it’s plenty elitist.

    2. Rich

      his 19.8 words per sentence “added some difficulty for his target audience”

      Hell, that fourth-fifths-of-a-word business threw *me* off, too!

      1. ?

        His performance made Bobby Jindal look like Laurence Olivier.

      2. Kolohe

        you know, it’s racist to say Obama’s words are worth only 4/5 of a white president’s. (and it’s 4/5ths rather than 3/5 because of course, he’s only 1/2 black)

        1. Timon19

          His half-blackness would make his words worth 1/3 of a white president’s. Your math blows.

          1. Kolohe

            As does my constitutional law.

            it’s a JOKE.

            1. Timon19

              I know. I’m playing along (poorly – I blame slow coffee effects).

        2. Rich

          I’ll surmise you’re not a public school graduate.

          1. Rich

            I’ll surmise Timon19 is.

            1. Timon19

              3/5 * 1/2 = 3/10

              1. Kolohe

                But if we’re playing this

                1/2 + (3/5)*(1/2) = 4/5.

                1. Kolohe

                  yes i’m a public school graduate. and public university.

                  1. Rich

                    It was a JOKE.

                    I’ll surmise you’re not a *recent* graduate.

                2. Timon19

                  Gah. Didn’t properly account for his half-whiteness.

                  1. Rich

                    That’s OK. Neither did Obama. 😉

    3. Lawn Gnome

      “Language guru: Obama speech too ‘professorial’ for his target audience”

      We Lawn gnomes notice a disturbing tendency in you humans, males in particular, to overcompensate for certain “shortcomings”.

      We suspect your Fearless Leader is suffering from such a delusion of grandeur.

      We Lawn Gnomes are hung lower than Lawn Jockeys, so yet another myth is busted, as we are a prolific people.

      1. T

        You’re only hung lower because you started lower to the ground. It’s no big feat for your wang to drag the ground when your legs are two inches long.

        1. Lawn Gnome

          And you wonder what we hide under our tall hats? A female Lawn Gnome’s wo-gnome-hood is quite extensive.

    4. Chris

      “But he praised Obama’s phrase “oil began spewing” as active and graphic.”

      This article may be on to something. If Barry wants to connect with the US population, he may want to read from a children’s book.

      And yes, I am an elitist.

      1. Pro Libertate

        Fuck that shit. If I’m ever president, I’m not talking down to the people. If some of them need translation, they can go to the Internet.

        1. Julius Genachowski

          Like hell they will! We control the narrative here, bub!

        2. Chris

          haha. I wouldn’t count on becoming president, though. The fourth reich is on its way.

          1. Pro Libertate

            Okay, if I’m ever dictator, then.

            1. Marcus Brutus

              I do have descendants, just to let you know.

              1. Pro Libertate

                What, in Italy? I have no plans to annex Italy at this time.

                1. Marcus Brutus

                  No gazpacho, in…well…if I told you, it would defeat the purpose, now wouldn’t it? My seed spread far…

                  1. Pro Libertate

                    I was just making a joke. In fact, through a convenient rape in what is now Scotland in the Second Century, I am descended from Marcus Junius Brutus.

            2. Chris

              Now that’s change I can believe in.

  9. Rich

    “The fraud alleged here is truly stunning in its scale and in its complexity.” … [T]he Justice Department has made such fraud a top priority.

    You know, that can be taken in more than one way.

  10. Timon19

    Also, Argentina is 2-0 up on S. Korea early. Sounds like the Argies came to play today.

    1. Timon19

      Whoa. S. Korea just pulled on back!

      1. Timon19

        “pulled one back”…dammit.

        1. ?

          It’s like “football” has its own language!

          1. Timon19

            Sorta!

            1. ?

              But why is the football stadium called “Soccer City Stadium”?

              1. dbcooper

                ‘Coz the antipodes rule, rule hard.

              2. Timon19

                Because in S. Africa, it’s called both soccer and football. In RSA, football most often refers to Rugby Union.

                1. ?

                  Ah, so.

    2. AlmightyJB

      I saw the Columbians hand them something before the match.

    3. Steve Nash Equilibrium

      Are we sure that match is being played in S. Africa? I heard actual singing and chanting from the Argentine supporters instead of a loud buzzing sound.

      1. Timon19

        God bless notch filters.

        1. ?

          God bless notch filters.

          Racist!

      2. dbcooper

        Either your broadcaster has implemented a filter for the vevuzelas, or last night’s match sapped the local suppporters’ enthusiasm.

      3. The Music of South Africa

        Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

        1. The Music of Australia

          Meh,that not Bzzzzzzzzzzz! Now THIS is a BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

        2. Hugh Masekela

          More cowbell!

    4. Steve Nash Equilibrium

      The broadcast needs more shots of Maradona on the touch line.

      1. Timon19

        He’s such a damn clown and will probably be the main reason they won’t get past the quarterfinals, but at least he’s entertaining.

        I guess when you’ve lived as hard as he has and have nearly died twice by your own excesses, you’re gonna be a sideshow no matter what.

        1. ?

          He’s like the Joe Namath of foot–, er, soccer.

          1. Timon19

            He’s much more…colorful and insane. Before he was named manager, he would routinely turn up at qualifiers in one of the luxury boxes, his fat, rehab-induced moobs stuffed into an Albiceleste shirt, and make an absolute ass of himself as Cheerleader-in-Chief.

      2. Steve Nash Equilibrium

        Maradona finds a new use for the vuvuzela.

    5. Kiwi Dave

      and I see Greece is playing Nigeria tomorrow.

      The Nigerians will scam the Greeks’ retirement funds, while the Greeks will stop playing after 55 minutes.

      1. Timon19

        That game is today, right after this one. I don’t see why the Greeks should break with their established pattern of uselessness.

    6. Timon19

      Higuain bags #2 for the Albiceleste!

      3-1 in the 78th. Korea is in trouble.

      Should be some good shots of Maradona cavorting on the touchline.

    7. Timon19

      Oh, shit! Higuain gets the hat trick!

      4-1. It’s a rout!

      1. Timon19

        Higuain takes over the lead in the run for the Golden Boot, all in one go.

      2. Pro Libertate

        I’m surprised. I thought S. Korea would do better, and the Argentine team looked pretty shaky on defense in their opener.

        1. Timon19

          I was thinking the same.

    8. Timon19

      Interesting bit from Tommy Smyth: Switzerland’s manager Ottmar Hitzfeld says he based his approach to Spain on Bob Bradley’s plan against them last year in the Confederations Cup.

      If true (it’s Tommy Smyth, chief exaggerator), that’s pretty remarkable. Hitzfeld is generally considered a top-tier coach.

      There may be something to it, though, since the US and the Swiss are the only teams to beat Spain in their last 50 matches.

    9. T

      On behalf of Real Americans everywhere, I have to say this at least once: STFU about your worthless metric football. Nobody cares.

      Okay, I feel better now. Carry on.

      1. Timon19

        Is that why they measure everything in yards?

        1. T

          Who does? A regulation FIFA pitch is measured in meters.

          1. Timon19

            It was first defined in yards and yards is the common parlance pretty much everywhere, especially here. On the continent itself, they use meters and yards interchangeably.

            I play a lot of soccer. The field is measured in yards. Everything is referred to (in Anglophone countries) in yards. Listen to the ESPN commentators. They speak in yards.

            Interesting that you’ve shown yourself to care enough to look up FIFA, though.

  11. AlmightyJB

    Russian Tea Partiers: “We can see Sarah Palin’s house from our country”

    Olby: “Teabaggers. snicker.”

    1. In Soviet Russia, house sees you! or something.

      1. Draco

        “In Soviet Russia, men come first, and women come second.” – Ivana Schtuppyu

        “… or sometimes not at all.” – Austin Powers

  12. Somebody posted this at Radley’s blog:

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com…..rce=co2hog

    Always remember that this is the society everyone around you wants, and give it to them.

    I hate to break it to everyone, but if I see anybody else’s kid in the street about to get run down by a truck, I’m walking the other way. I wouldn’t so much as walk up to anyone else’s kid if I saw them about to drink poison.

    1. John

      They are pretty much destroying any sense of civil society. But, that is what they want. If people help themselves and help each other, why do we need the state? And how the hell can the right people control everyone?

    2. Draco

      Yes, you would. So would I. We’re human, all too human. I made the mistake of stopping to help a woman who like an idiot ran out of gas in a very populated suburban area (I didn’t know that at the time, as she was screaming with her car rolling back down a hill). It turned out she knew she was low on gas, but figured she could “still make it.” Turned into a half hour mini-epic, with me having to take her to a gas station, borrow a gas tank, put it in the trunk of my BMW, pour it into her car, try to restart the car which was on a hill so the gas wasn’t getting into the fuel line, go back, get more gas, etc. I probably could have gotten stopped for “transporting gasoline in the trunk of your car” or something equally absurd.

      “Never again” said I. But a certain level of chivalry seems ingrained, and I’ll probably get suckered in next time too.

      1. alan

        Yes, you would. So would I. We’re human, all too human.

        Definitely. We react before thinking. I once saw an eighteen wheeler slowly going forward under a bridge. Clearence said 17 1/2 feet, the sign above the window on the trnafer said 18. I ran up and jumped on the landing bridge of the rig, pulled myself up to the door and knocked on the window screaming, ‘brake! brake!”

        A few seconds later I was wondering what the fuck am I doing up here? I could have been torn to shreds if he didn’t listen to me.

  13. Tim

    We seem to have gone quite a long time without a marijuan or prostitution thread. There must be a City somewhere out there that’s oppressing the local pot patients, or a plucky prostitute running an outsider’s campaign for governor.

    1. ?

      And no dogs have been shot….

      It’s quiet. Too quiet…

    2. Brett L

      The World Cup has bored them all to death?

  14. ?

    Ok, so it’s not as fawning as I thought, but it’s plenty elitist.

    Pshaw!

    The “guru” chose a sentence that reads like a Rotary banquet guest introduction as his example of Obama’s being too “professorial.”

    He obviously went to a freshwater school.

  15. John

    http://www.avclub.com/articles…..i-e,42171/

    Landscape painter Thomas Kinkade?known as the “Painter Of Light” because he trademarked that phrase for himself, and as a purveyor of patriotic and Christian-themed images that are meant to contain a “larger moral dimension”?has been busted for drunk driving. It’s part of a pervasive pattern of self-destructive behavior for Kinkade, whose innocuous, assembly-line images of peaceful cottages, Jesuses, and snow scenes have made him the nation’s self-described “most collected artist,” which is sort of like Velveeta bragging that it’s “America’s most sought-after cheese.” As Kinkade himself once said, “We have found a way to bring to millions of people an art that they can understand,” which just about sums up his Norman Rockwell-meets-Walmart approach.

    1. Timon19

      Shouldn’t that be “Jesi”?

      1. SugarFree

        I’m pretty sure “Jesus” is both the singular and the plural.

        1. Yeah but “Jesi” is great.

          Nice job, Timon.

          1. SugarFree

            That’s what I get for trying a theology joke, I guess.

            1. Jesus

              Ha ha, I made your joke bomb! Still think I’m a figment?

              1. SugarFree

                Jesus: The 3-in-1 Swiss Army deity.

    2. Typical Artist

      This is excellent news.

      1. Starving Artist

        Cool! Mind if I crash? I got food stamps and hipster doofus poseury status!

        1. Typical Artist

          Cool! But first we’re off to Kinkade’s housing development to shout “Codpiece! Codpiece!” and hawk our wares, okay?

    3. dbcooper

      From their sister site:

      Candidate May Have Lied About Heroic Death In Vietnam

      1. smartass sob

        It truly boggles the mind the kind of characters that get into politics. I don’t know who is worse – the guy who claims he died on a battlefield while serving his country, or the other moron who says he doesn’t want to call the candidate a liar but looked in the records and could find no evidence to back up the story. This country is in big trouble.

    4. The Angry Optimist

      DUI should not be a crime.

      That is all.

      1. FOP

        It’s not. Well, for us, that is. It’s good to be a cop! Besides, how else would municipal government raise cash? Speeding tickets and stoplight cameras only raise so much…

  16. Jiggy Carter

    “A jobs bill fails in the Senate.”

    2012 will come to be known as The End of an Error.

  17. The Music of Australia

    As Kinkade himself once said, “We have found a way to bring to millions of people an art that they can understand,” which just about sums up his Norman Rockwell-meets-Walmart approach.

    Really, Mr. Kinkade? As victims of assault and breakage by vicious thugs in an inebriated state, we Lawn Gnomes take issue with your Andy Warhol-assembly-line-approach to art. We also certainly hope you weren’t foolish enough to blow in the little breathalyzer and requested a blood test. We Lawn Gnomes are teetotalers are would never endanger the public with such self-centered behavior.

    We Lawn Gnomes have reaped a tidy reward from our partnership with Wal-Mart and are cute and loyal companions for a more civilized age.

    We Lawn Gnomes are timeless and never lose our appeal, unlike your hack approach to visual art.

    1. Lawn Gnome

      We Lawn Gnomes also enjoy the music of Australia and are certainly hardy enough to survive in the The Outback.

      We sure feel silly!

  18. Jiggy Carter

    New Bill Gives Obama ‘Kill Switch’ To Shut Down The Internet…

    The federal government would have “absolute power” to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.

    http://www.prisonplanet.com/ne…..ernet.html

    1. SugarFree

      MOAR POWER! MOAR I SAY!

    2. Timon19

      Judging by the link, I’ll go ahead and take this with a mountain of salt.

      1. Isaac Bartram

        The bill is for real. Joe Lieberman (who else?) is trying to introduce it.

        The story last night on NPR was pretty full of mockery of Senators’ lack of understanding of the internet.

        Ted Stevens’ name came up.

    3. Rich

      Thomas Kinkade for Cyberspace Czar!

    4. Astrid

      So Obama is going to type Google into Google in the event the internet needs to be shut down?

  19. ?

    Would anyone care to comment on the extraordinary amount of attention devoted to BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg’s “small people” mistake by shallow, sensationalist, priority-challenged American news media? One would think he yelled “Nigger!” at an NAACP meeting.

    1. Tim

      Any gaffe sounds worse when you have an accent like that.

    2. The Gobbler

      If you listen to it in context, he meant “small businesses”. Unlike Leona Helmsley, for this guy, Engish is a second language.

      1. Brett L

        I hear George III had that problem, too.

        1. ?

          So is American news media stupid, craven, dishonest or all of the above?

          1. American News Media

            Yes.

            1. ?

              Thank you. Good night, and good luck.

              1. Good night, and good luck fuck you, more like.

  20. “We will arrive with protest signs and flags ? both Israeli flags and Gadsden Flags,” Karpa said. “We’ve even arranged to have several Gadsden flags produced with ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ printed on them in Hebrew.”

    OK, that is awesome.

    1. dbcooper

      Needs umlauts (which itself should have an umlaut).

      1. Umlaut

  21. Timon19

    Full time. Argentina 4:1 S. Korea.

    Higuain with a hat trick.

    Nigeria v Greece to follow.

    1. pantsfan

      Would it surprise you to learn that Maradonna has a tat of Che on his right arm?

      1. dbcooper

        http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-i…..na-006.jpg

        “Something irks me with the Maradona photo,” confesses Glenn McCulley. “Che tattoo on the arm, yet and every other detail (expensive watch, jewelry, fat cigar, yacht) reeks of capitalism. Just underlines the dichotomy within Diego really – outrageously gifted when expressing his art (football), yet outrageously borderline pillock as a personality – makes him a bit like Prince/Slave/Artist Formerly Known As really.”

      2. Timon19

        Not in the least. He was a guest of Cuba’s free healthcare system after his last episode of nearly drugging himself to death. He regenerated in the company of his good buddy Fidel Castro.

  22. Tim

    I want to see North Korea versus Zimbabwe.

    Mugabe’s team tried to seize the ball but Kim’s had put in a rocket and shot it over Japan.

    1. pantsfan

      North Korea is best Korea

      1. Tim

        Absolutely! Who’s your favorite Kim?

        1. Ragin Cajun

          Kardashian.

  23. Tim

    “The commission’s chairman, Julius Genachowski, and his staff have insisted that imposing federal regulations originally written in the 1930s for the telephone is the only way the Obama Administration can gain the “kind of oversight and control that we need,” says an FCC staffer with ties to another Democrat commissioner. “Look at the Gulf oil spill, that’s what happens when we let corporations just do their own thing without any accountability. We can’t allow that to happen with the Internet. We won’t allow it.”

    http://spectator.org/archives/…..e-internet

    1. Brett L

      Must…not…kill…

    2. R C Dean

      the only way the Obama Administration can gain the “kind of oversight and control that we need,”

      Its not the only way, you know. Congress could pass a, you know, law.

      1. Dr. Joseph Guillotine

        If I may make a suggestion…

    3. We can’t allow that to happen with the internet. Why, if a single tube were to spring a leak, our oceans and pristine beaches could be flooded with thousands of gigabytes and megajoules. It would be an unimaginable environmental disaster.

  24. J sub D

    Taylor Bean allegedly hid how sick it had become, enabling the firm to fraudulently meet government conditions and become one of the largest business partners of the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae, federal agencies that cover losses suffered by mortgage lenders and their financiers. Federal officials said the scheme caused the two agencies’ largest losses ever, totaling at least $3 billion. The officials warned that the final figure could be higher.

    Just another case of the wrong people being in charge. With the advent of Hope and Change? managers of public funds will no longer be getting fleeced like rubes playing three card monty in a New York subway.

  25. J sub D

    The Treasury Department’s savvy investors appear to be taking lessons from the FHA.

    1. J sub D

      Oops! The above should have read –

      More than 90 banks and thrifts missed their last TARP payments.

      The Treasury Department’s savvy investors appear to be taking lessons from the FHA.

  26. Mike M.

    Out of control Seattle cop rears back and punches young woman in the face over a jaywalking beef. Jaywalking!

    Watching the video made me absolutely sick to my stomach.

    1. ?

      The incident began when an unnamed police officer spotted a teen jaywalking across Martin Luther King Jr. Way South

      This story bursts at the seams with irony.

    2. Tim

      I believe the official statement is that the officer was playing the west coast version of “I’ve got your nose”…
      The woman was only hysterical because she wanted her nose back.

      1. ?

        Does she kiss her momma with that mouth?

        1. Tim

          Mom punches her too.

    3. The Gobbler

      He didn’t punch her for jaywalking.

      She was interfering with his attempt at ticketing her friend.

      You grab at a cop trying to do his job, you deserve to be punched.

      1. Tim

        You have a point, though having punched her (I think) he should have arrested her. That mess could have turned into a general melee very easily.

        1. ?

          Never a good idea to shove a cop. Or resist arrest. Or jaywalk while black.

          1. The Gobbler

            Especially the latter. I, a fabulous white man, jaywalk in front of the cops nearly everyday.

            Cops love them old white guys in business attire.

  27. pantsfan

    There’s a disturbing lack of Charlize Theron at this World Cup.

  28. Timon19

    Nigeria v Greece has kicked off, featuring Danny Shittu.

  29. pantsfan

    Hitler reacts to the vuvuzelas

  30. Tony

    My god you people are tools.

    Here is Mike Hulme refuting Lawrence Solomon’s complete hackery and distortion of his words.

    Here is a non-PDF link.

    1. Why are you here, idiot?

      1. Tony

        Oh I’m terribly sorry for exposing the hackery behind yet another fake climate change controversy before the reasonoids managed to finish squeezing one out over it.

        1. Reasonoids

          Please refrain from sharing your personal habits with us Tony. Some of us are still eating breakfast.

        2. The Gobbler

          Oh I’m terribly sorry for exposing the hackery behind yet another fake climate change controversy before the reasonoids managed to finish squeezing one out a Tony over it.

      2. SugarFree

        THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED, WARTY! SETTLED!

        1. Tim

          *And by “settled” he means nobody really fooking knows.

    2. PermaLurker

      Everyone knows the real Tony never cites his posts! What have you done with the real Tony, impostor!?

    3. Bobby

      Tony|6.17.10 @ 10:14AM|#

      My god you people are tools.

      So says Hit’n’Run’s most prominent hack for Big Ignorance.

      IPCC ? “No significant acceleration in the rate of sea level rise during the 20th century has been detected”

      “Why the Maldives aren’t sinking”
      Former lead reviewer for the IPCC, Nils-Axel M?rner

      “Warming fears are the worst scientific scandal in history?When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” ? UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist

      “Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp?Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact.” ? Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch UN IPCC committee.

      “Temperature measurements show that the [climate model-predicted mid-troposphere] hot zone is non-existent. This is more than sufficient to invalidate global climate models and projections made with them!”- UN IPCC Scientist Dr. Steven M. Japar, a PhD atmospheric chemist who was part of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Second (1995) and Third (2001) Assessment Reports.

      “I was at the table with three Europeans, and we were having lunch. And they were talking about their role as lead authors. And they were talking about how they were trying to make the report so dramatic that the United States would just have to sign that Kyoto Protocol,” Christy told CNN on May 2, 2007. ? Alabama State Climatologist Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, served as a UN IPCC lead author in 2001 for the 3rd assessment report.

      “The quantity of CO2 we produce is insignificant in terms of the natural circulation between air, water and soil? I am doing a detailed assessment of the UN IPCC reports and the Summaries for Policy Makers, identifying the way in which the Summaries have distorted the science.” ? South African Nuclear Physicist and Chemical Engineer Dr. Philip Lloyd, a UN IPCC co-coordinating lead author.

  31. Timon19

    The really interesting match of today will be France v Mexico. The loser is in real trouble. A draw gives RSA a glimmer of hope and makes the other two nervous.

    I want nothing more than for Mexico to lose.

    1. Steve Nash Equilibrium

      Domenech is the biggest management failure in history. Not just sports history, but in the history of all human endeavors. Ken Lay ran Enron better.

      1. Timon19

        You should see how the French react when he comes up in conversation. They get embarrassed and try to change the subject. It’s pretty funny.

    2. Brett L

      Screw the French. Anyone who has to cheat to qualify deserves to be ignominiously shown the exit in the first round.

  32. Timon19

    Uche for Nigeria in the 16th!

    Direct from a free kick. Keeper was frozen by an onrushing striker who could have redirected. Those are usually nasty situations that make goalkeepers look bad.

    1. The Angry Optimist

      You make me embarrassed to be a Columbusite, Timon.

      1. Timon19

        What fer?

      2. Timon19

        If it makes you feel better, I am from the Akron area, and currently live there as well. I attended tOSU, so I was only temporary.

        I only get down to Columbus for my annual Buckeyes game and about every other week during the summer for Crew games.

    2. dbcooper

      Socratis Papastathopoulos is quite the name.

    3. Timon19

      Holy crap! Kaita sent off for Nigeria for kicking out at a Greek player (?) in the 34th minute.

      Greece might have a chance now.

    4. Timon19

      Salpingidis equalizes for Greece in the 44th!

    5. Timon19

      Nigeria is really happy that halftime has come.

    6. Timon19

      Taiwo is hurt and Nigeria is temporarily playing with 9.

      1. Timon19

        Substitution made in 56th minute.

    7. Timon19

      Holy crap, I’m not sure what just happened, but I think Glenn Johnson just had a coronary and Kyle Martino fell out of his chair. Nigeria nearly gifted Greece a goal, then transitioned to a 2 v 1 against Greece at the other end, forcing a great save, then missing an empty net.

      The whole thing happened in less than 10 seconds somehow.

    8. Timon19

      Torosidis puts Greece in front in the 71st! Nigeria is in trouble big time, now!

    9. Timon19

      To make it worse for Nigeria, a substitute needs to be substituted.

    10. Timon19

      Greece have won their first ever match at the World Cup Finals. Mostly due to a bit of Nigerian indiscipline. Wow. Did not expect this.

  33. werty

    greece is economic and soccer failure, GO SUPER EAGLES.

    1. werty

      red card, things just got real

    2. Timon19

      They’re up, but playing with 10 men for about 55 minutes now.

  34. Tim

    Frankly, as events have proven, there’s more action with Seattle Jaywalkers than the entire World Cup. Or is world cup?

    1. ?

      Good thing those bystanders weren’t blowing vuvuzelas.
      Might have been a bloodbath.

  35. Joe M

    Obama called last weekend for the increased spending, saying inaction could force states to fire hundreds of thousands of employees.

    *fingers crossed*

  36. Barry O

    Man oh man, watching the Russian statists silence those teabaggers will almost make up for my inability to for the last couple of years. I’ll just pretend they are American tea-partiers. That will be some nice escapism.

  37. thanks

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